1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a multiple injection syringe system having a plurality of pre-filled fluid cartridges that are to be selectively accessed in a predetermined order to facilitate the SASH (Saline-Administration Medication-Saline-Heparin) process.
2. Prior Art
As will be known to health care workers, patients who are medicated or who are to receive certain intravenously administered drugs on a regular basis are commonly fit with an IV catheter. A dosage of saline is first delivered to the catheter from a hypodermic syringe. Next, a particular drug is administered to the patient, usually by means of another syringe. Then, another dosage of saline is applied to the catheter, via an additional syringe, to flush from the catheter any remnants of the previously administered drug. Lastly, heparin (or similar anti-coagulant) is applied to the patient to prevent clotting.
The foregoing steps are commonly known as the SASH (Saline-Administration Medication-Saline-Heparin) process. Unfortunately, the SASH process requires that health care workers have access to and handle several medication cartridges and the syringes by which to deliver the contents of such cartridges. Consequently, the administration of the drug according to the SASH process can be both time consuming and inefficient and will require the health care worker to be certain that the proper medication cartridges have been selected and delivered to the patient in a medically correct order.
It would be advantageous to eliminate the necessity for the health care worker to handle a variety of cartridges and syringes. It would also be desirable to make the SASH process more efficient by packaging the desired medication cartridges in a single syringe system by which to permit easy access to the cartridges in a particular, predetermined order. Accordingly, the possibility of selecting the wrong cartridge or administering the medication thereof at the wrong time can be minimized.